Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

In a few short hours, it'll be another year. So much has happened this year to me, my work life, my friends and friendships -- Sometimes it seems the older I get, the more interesting, dramatic, and generally eventful my life gets. And old and long-lost friend old me once upon a time that he had a New Year's tradition of writing down all the crappy things that had happened to him on little pieces of paper, and throwing them into the fireplace to burn them away, and start the New Year fresh. Not everyone has a fireplace (and no, it's not quite the same using a shredder), but I do hope that you can emotionally and spiritually leave behind many of the past hurts and disappointments and start the New Year rejuvenated. I don't imagine I'll have quite the same opportunity as I dig through my box of keepsakes, as they are sure to bring back all sorts of memories -- and probably a few regrets. I'm still not entirely decided about keeping only digital copies of ...

It was really gratifying to get this letter from one of the many students at King George International College (KGIC) where I worked from around 2002-2003. I don't recall this particular student had anything problems other than the usual schoolwork. She was, however, one of the few extra-studious ones, who hung around after classes to get extra help with their English. Word gets around the school, however, and I think somehow just being empathetic to the students about their lives here and their troubles with living abroad had warmed them to me and given me a good reputation. I give a lot of credit to Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People and the Vancouver Crisis Centre for training me with that mindset and giving me the tools. I don't know if I would have done so well at the school if I hadn't started volunteering with the Vancouver Crisis Centre only a few months prior in November 2001 -- especially as I was (and am) still generally very shy a...

There is something adorable about someone older than a young teen who still has the innocent heart to painstakingly create something like the cover to this card. Just count the different colours and elements, and you'll suddenly realize that this is no mere five minute doodle. And crafts like this are at it's best in more mature years, because along with the heartfelt hand-crafted effort are practical, thoughtful, touches like putting the card in protective plastic to give it the best chance of weathering time and travel. Maybe all those seasonal activities that go on in ESL schools (and make them sometimes seem less school than a fun summer camp) contribute toward maintaining a certain playfulness despite the relentless advance of years.

Of all my keepsakes -- and not just the ones from King George International College (KGIC), of which this is one -- this is probably the one that will be hardest to let go of. I'm not even sure if I will clear it out like most of the other photos and letters, to be preserved only electronically in a photo album. So much work had gone into this, and there are so many memories embedded in it. * The picture's not entirely clear about this because of the lighting, but I think that's my khaki-coloured shirt. I still have that same shirt. After all these years, the bend in the collar has finally worn and frayed a bit, but it is otherwise still in excellent condition. Crazy, eh?

Instead of throwing all my keepsakes haphazardly into my treasure box, I probably should have kept them more in order and with little notes to indicate what is what. The letter is from one of the many hard-working students at King George International College (KGIC) where I worked around 2002-2003. If I remember correctly, she was one of the advanced students, had round cheeks, and short hair in a bit of a retro cut. Her letter refers to a Japanese bookmark, so the bookmark pictured, being Korean, is probably not the right one, but it's the only one I could find in my keepsake box. In any case, it was so beautiful and delicate that I just kept it in its packaging. The gift meant something to me and I kept it, obviously, but I also didn't want to lose it. I guess a part of me wanted to preserve it, and the memory, intact. Gifts meant to be used can remind us daily of the person who gave it to us. But what happens when they are worn and damaged, and time to be retired ...

Not very many gifts have really meant a lot to me. I think it takes a deeper personal connection with the person for it to become a keepsake -- and it definitely helps if the gift is non-consumable (i.e., not food or cash). Looking back at all the keepsakes I had held onto, I noticed that gifts were invariably left unopened. Like this little calendar. I'm actually not 100% sure that it was from a student at King George International College (KGIC). If the picture of a dog is meant to indicate the year of the dog, then it would be either a 1994 or 2006 calendar.

Christmas was a stressful time at King George International College, but ultimately a fun one for the students. There was a potluck, a gingerbread house building contest, and every class had to put on some kind of skit. The higher the level of English, the more ambitious the production: One class had a full-blown play involving X-Files character Mulder and Scully, and stolen Christmas toys. Another had a skit about Santa's elves and reindeer going on strike because they were overworked. And then there was what to do with the students during the holidays. School was officially closed, so there wouldn't be any official events. If I remember correctly, some of the staff organized a few drop-in get-togethers at pubs, just so the far-away-from-home students had somewhere to go, somewhere to belong to. Somewhere to belong. I recall having a brief conversation with one of the teachers about that and Christmas. For North America, it tends to be one of those family-get-together ti...

Even after typically ruthlessly discarding "keepsakes" like brochures from faraway lands I've visited, or Christmas and birthday cards, there's still quite a bit of stuff left over. As you may know, I'm "spring cleaning" in preparation for finally moving into a place of my own . Subjects were removed on the offer to purchase on December 10th, but possession isn't till the end of February, with the possibility of renting it out in March to the existing owner. The latest batch is from my days as a teaching assistant / conversation assistant at King George International College (KGIC) in Surrey , BC. I honestly can't remember when I was with the Surrey campus of King George International College. All I remember was that I had Christmas and Valentines with them, and was possibly downsized around March 2003 because the SARS crisis had blacklisted Canada and business plummetted. At least that was the official reason. Based on seniority and LIFO...

After 46 years, The William Tell Restaurant (in The Georgian Court Hotel on Beatty) will close its doors. Sadly, they were not able to renegotiate a favourable lease with the new hotel owners. Our waiter tonight advises that the owner will travel abroad a few years, and then more than likely reopen elsewhere. Meanwhile, they are still taking reservations. The Hotel blurb on the William Tell will probably disappear after December 29th, their last open day, so we've copied it here: William Tell Restaurant At the Georgian Court Hotel Downtown Vancouver you will find an award winning Vancouver fine dining restaurant for over 40 years. A menu that moves with the times and served in the grand manner, with a passion for detail. Warm, friendly atmosphere. Swiss-French and West Coast cuisine. Our History The William Tell Restaurant began in 1964, with founder Erwin Doebeli and two partners, emphasizing personal service, leisurely dining and a European approach to food. In 1971...

Around September 2000 I took an Alaskan Inside Passage cruise on the Celebrity Cruises ship "Galaxy". I didn't bring a camera, but I did eventually receive a few pictures from someone I briefly corresponded with from the cruise. This was a very outgoing couple at our table and I think we were all drawn to their charisma. I actually remember not realizing at first that the missus was actually a bit on the portly side, as that definitely wasn't the first thing anyone noticed. The only reason I remember their names -- Thane and Ellen Ostroth -- is because they sent me a holiday card. Anyway, at some point someone asked how they met, and from what I remember of the story, he was recommended to her as a dentist. It was Halloween, and while she was waiting in the waiting room, out he sprang, dressed like the Devil. They went all-out on the cruise, which meant taking in the best side trips. Honestly, unless you're good at quickly arranging something at each po...

Around September 2000 I took an Alaskan Inside Passage cruise on the Celebrity Cruises ship "Galaxy". I didn't bring a camera, but I did eventually receive a few pictures from someone I briefly corresponded with from the cruise. That's me on the left. A tad chubbier and with more hair. And yes, I did buy that tux just for the cruise, because of the supposed formal dinner dress code. It fits too loosely now.

Now that CIBC VISA has switched to (optional) online statements that can go back several years, I was reminded to dredge out all the old VISA statements I had kept -- Yes, every time I get my statement, I painstakingly match up all the receipts to make sure nothing funny is going on. With the online statements, though, I'm now shredding some of the really old statements I guess I hadn't gotten around to getting rid of. Came across an old invoice from TigerDirect.ca , for a Lexar Media 512MB USB 2.0 Jump Drive. I bought it in 2004. Still have it and it works fine. Nowadays, you can get a 64 Gigabyte Flash Drive for about $200 . Way back when, that 512 Megabyte Flash Drive cost me $205.99. Holy moly!

Around September 2000 I took an Alaskan Inside Passage cruise on the Celebrity Cruises ship "Galaxy". I didn't bring a camera, but I did eventually receive a few pictures from someone I briefly corresponded with from the cruise. Here, the wait staff have joined us in singing "Happy Birthday" to our fellow dining companion. As I recall, it was his birthday, or we had just missed it by a day or so. Anyway, they were happy to do it. The very next day, by suspicious coincidence, someone else in our party had a birthday. So once again, out rolled the birthday cake and the sing-a-long. The wait staff weren't amused, I recall. I think they were on to us, and I was pretty sure that whoever arranged it had told a fib. In any case, there weren't any more birthdays at our table for the remainder of the cruise.

Around September 2000 I took an Alaskan Inside Passage cruise on the Celebrity Cruises ship "Galaxy". I didn't bring a camera, but I did eventually receive a few pictures from someone I briefly corresponded with from the cruise. These pictures show our servers on the fixed seating dinners. I'm fairly certain that this was my second set of wait staff. I found my first table assignment really awkward as it was all couples except myself. Moreover, I had the distinct impression that the gentleman in one of the couples was a bit perturbed by how chatty his wife was with me. There wasn't anything going on, of course, but the whole thing was just so awkward that I ended up asking for a table change. I do remember one particularly interesting conversation with that couple: It turned out that the missus claimed to have run over just about every type of road kill animal you can think off -- squirrel, rabbit, deer -- she'd done it all. As they were scheduled f...

Continuing my "spring cleaning" in preparation for finally moving out, I found some really old pictures sent to me around January 2001. They were from "Georgia O'Brien and Katherine Prasser" (right and left, respectively, in the picture below... I think), as part of a New Years card in response to a Christmas card I'd sent them in 2000, presumably. I think it was around September of 2000 that I took an Alaskan Inside Passage cruise on the Celebrity Cruises ship "Galaxy" (subsequently sold and remodelled, apparently) . I didn't take a camera, reading material, or writing material. I had wanted to force myself to immerse into the holiday, with no retreating into any sort of do-nothing activity that I could otherwise do at home. I was still very much single at the time, and took the trip alone. Paid the horrific single supplement, too! As I recall, we were practically the last ship headed up and down the Passage, and we had remarkably...

After some career confusion following my long university days, I settled into an accounting assistant position, and four years to the day, left to take a career exploration course with The Transitions Program . Some of the staff who worked with our class then are still there! Coming out of the Transitions Program, I set my sights on some sort of one-on-one helping-people type position, and looked into counselling. But it didn't feel quite right for me, and one thing after another, eventually ended up as an apartment building concierge in 2001, I think. Looking back, it was the best place to start in this field. No building I've worked in since has compared to the structured way and generally team-oriented staff in that building when I started on part-time graveyard shifts. Many other buildings were outright dysfunctional because of really selfish or negligent staff. Here's one of the thank you notes I got and held on to. The note about opening gates: The cameras i...

The last of my pictures (at least the ones that survived the cheesy disposable cameras) from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. Below is the obligatory group photo. Not sure everyone's in it, actually. I'm pretty sure this one was taken by the tour director, Mike Scrimshire as I'm in the back row, on the right side.

More assorted couples on my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. An American couple who joked about being from "the land of the giants" -- and with good reason, because both of them were really tall! A cute Jewish mother-daughter pair who ducked out part-way to divert to Israel. I vaguely remember the issue of the daughter being an orthodox Jew was highlighted in France when, to make things easy, she just declared herself vegetarian for the wait staff. I also remember there was some logistics error in France because our party size was way underestimated or simply relayed incorrectly, and there was a shortage of food at dinner. Dessert came as an unopened can of yogurt. It did not seem like they tried to make it up to us later, either. Plus there was smoking every which way in France, and I had a helluva time with that. We were also in a hotel that seemed tucked away in the burbs, and not walking distance from anythin...

More assorted couples on my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. Now that I look at this photo, it's funny how the juxtaposition of short curly hair and dark sunglasses turned out. That's a red cow at a truck stop. I should've made at least one of them ride it. Somewhat appropriate that the cow has it's eyes rolled upward. It was annoying at every truck stop required about one Euro to use the facilities. Sure it's for upkeep, but it felt like holding you hostage with your bodily functions. The Vatican City, at least, was civilized -- they even had signs forbidding donations to use the washrooms, if I remember correctly.

Two other single travellers on my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. The lady, I seemed to remember, was from Canada, maybe somewhere on the East Coast. German, or at least German-speaking. Her story was that her husband didn't want to go, but she did and decided to go on the trip without him. The gentleman was from Australia, I think, and didn't return with us to London but continued on another tour. He had the misfortune of being paired up with the difficult gentleman I mentioned in an earlier post, and confided horror stories of being kept awake in the wee hours of the morning because said gentleman wanted to watch television and had it turned up very loudly. Finally he had enough, and the tour director put us together instead. Until then, although I had signed up for twin-share, the odd numbers meant I had had a room to myself. Fortunately, this gentleman was respectful and good humoured and we got along very well.

Assorted couples on my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. This couple had something of an interesting past that I didn't quite get the full scoop on. Apparently he was something of a wild one in his youth, with at least some soft drugs, like booze and marijuana. And marrying her "tamed" him. The store is Gassan diamonds. The shot is supposed to be her dragging him into the store against his will. The whole thing was messed up -- I was paying attention to the couple and didn't even notice my reflection in the mirrored surface. DUH!

Another picture from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. This was a Hawaiian couple, if I remember correctly. She was pregnant and I teased her about having twins, which she was nervous about. She threatened to come after me if she did pop out twins. I also remember taking more pictures for other people than from my own camera. I think that was the part I liked the most about photographs -- helping people out that way. It also helped that they thought I took pretty decent pictures of them. I think mostly I surprised them by being a bit fussy and careful about trying to compose a picture, rather than just taking one.

It's 0056h and it's raining cats and dogs out there. Very likely, half the people who need cabs have called three different cab companies, which means a population of available taxis are actually milling around uselessly while people get frustrated. I wonder if we shouldn't allow for extra cabs to be put into service whenever rain is forecast. This ought to increase the likelihood of simply hailing a cab if they are roaming hotspots. And if some of these extra cabs could "patrol" bus routes, there could be an unspoken arrangement for rainy days where being at a bus station would increase your likelihood of flagging down a cab? Anyway... It's just sad to see how the city grinds to a halt as soon as the rain hits.

More pictures from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. The tour director's name was Mike Scrimshire. I must confess I really only "remember" this because I found his name on an old luggage tag from the trip. From the very start, I had to have dealings with him, and fortunately he was a very forthright, helpful, and tactful person. There was an elderly gentleman on our tour group who did a few inappropriate things early on, and unfortunately, I had to rat on him. For example, early in the tour, the tour director collected contact information from everyone in case, on or after the tour, anything came up, as I recall. Anyway, when the list was passed on to us, this gentleman took the opportunity to copy everyone else's information! He then proceeded to forcibly chat with me all through the bus trip while our tour director was trying to give ups helpful and useful information. As kindly as I could, I tried ...

Almost, anyway. Subjects have finally been removed on my offer to purchase a small 1-year old apartment in Surrey, near Central City. Possession won't be till the end of February, but essentially I'm committed to it now. A $10,000 down payment has already gone out, and since I'm buying the whole thing on credit, the interest clock has already started ticking. I have about 3 months to do what I can to pay down as much of the line of credit as I can while still living at home. Honestly, I don't know if I'm just going to end up moving back a month after I move out, either because of financial issues, or my mom's health, or having to help her out because she's essentially illiterate. I guess we'll see. And after six months of living in it, the plan will be to see if I can flip it for a modest profit, and start all over again but with less credit for the down payment. So here we go on the real estate rollercoaster! Wee!

A picture from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. I can't remember why I had this couple in the picture, but I do vaguely remember this to be in London, on the first official day of the tour group getting together. Their insistence on my helping them take a picture caused the three of us to be late getting back to the bus. The local tour guide had a "rule" about lateness, that we had to buy chocolate to share with everyone. As it turned out, later in the trip, on at least two occasions, we were stuck on the highway on either a long commute or a traffic jam, and I had chocolate and chocolate-covered marzipan to share. About the chocolate-covered marzipan -- Apparently we were in Austria just as they were celebrating Mozart's birthday with special marzipans wrapped in foil with the famous composer's picture. I'm pretty sure it was Mirabell Mozartkugeln . Anyway, there were enough to go around the en...

Various pictures from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. I remember on the very final day, when I was to fly out of London, the airport shuttle was very late. Traffic was apparently "mad" according to the driver when the finally showed. Two other incidents happened that day: Someone from the European Explorer tour starting just as our was ending came up to me and introduced himself. I thought it was both forward and refreshingly friendly, trying to bond with other members of the tour. Of course, I had to tell him that we were on different groups. The other thing happened in the hotel lobby, and perhaps thankfully I wasn't there, as it might have happened to me -- Apparently some crooks had arranged a distraction, and one of their number stole a passport off someone in our tour group. On the very day they were set to fly out! I never did learn how that all played out afterwards as my shuttle came,...

I think this picture was taken in Italy, on the very best night the entire tour group had on Trafalgar 's European Explorer tour. I can't remember the date of the tour exactly, but I do remember that around 2005, I was thinking about a vacation again, and my on-again mostly-off-again friend Nesha (she tends to fall off the planet completely, even though we live in the same neighbourhood) was intensely interested in the outcome. She urged me to pack no more than one backpack for the entire two week trip, and take a couple of cheap cameras to take photos. Which I sparingly did, because even back then, I just wasn't into pictures -- Who would I share them with? Close friendships seemed hard to nurture at the time and it just felt like I'd have an inventory of pictures with no context for anyone other than myself. Anyway, on that trip, we pulled into Italy late in the evening, and it was snowing. After supper, some of us went around the back to build a snowman with th...

So I finally managed to buy a place (out in Surrey, of course, where it's still marginally affordable!), though fully leveraged, and although the closing date won't be till late February (!), I thought I should start to sift through all the stuff that's accumulated over the years. Spring cleaning this winter yielded a heck of a lot of loose papers (lots of little free pads from local realtors), business cards from people I maybe called once, and also a bunch of photographs from the two major vacations I'd taken in my life. I took those vacations "alone" -- that is, I went on my own and ended up lumped with a bunch of other people on vacation. One was a cruise with fixed seating dinners; the other was a bus tour of Europe, with a bus full of people from various countries. I never did share a lot about my vacations, because no one was really interested when I got back. So there was no one to share it with. Made some friends on the trip, but -- and maybe th...

This is the first year since forever that I've had dental coverage through work. So, for the first time in literally over 20 years, I went to the dentist, and lo! They had a ton of stuff to do to me. First it was a "cleaning". Basically they scraped all over the place, especially in between my teeth. I'm not entirely sure of the wisdom of this because afterwards, it felt like some of my teeth now had more space in between them -- space for food to get stuck in. The dentist of course recommended flossing, and as I hadn't flossed in over 30 years, I really felt sort of cheated because it seemed I now needed to floss because food was getting stuck in between the teeth that the dentist forced apart with her "cleaning" tools. Anyway, there were a couple of minor cavities, and one wisdom tooth . The x-ray showed that the tooth was what they call "horizontally impacted" -- that is, growing sideways. Moreover, there was bone on top. Before surger...

I learnt this neat little tip from one of my Facebook friends this week, to "Make Google Translate beatbox !" Go to Google Translate . Copy/paste "pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk" without the quotes. Select German to German. Turn up your speakers and press the "listen" button...

I work in an apartment building downtown. Almost every day, a stack of free Metro newspapers are thrown at our front door. The next day, we throw away at least half, if not the full stack, because no one wanted any. Unlike the Yellow Pages, which gets sent once a year, this happens about 5 times a week (the Friday paper is also the weekend paper).